Embedded Files
Weimar Republic Constitution
Weimar Republic Constitution
The Weimar Republic was a genuine attempt to set up a democratic government, however, weaknesses in its constitution made it very hard for the government to adequately deal with the challenges it faced.
This was also the first time in German history that they had experienced anything like a democracy. People weren't used to the give and take of democracy. They were used to being ruled. Thus, they had very little commitment to democracy.
Activity 5
Activity 5
Write about the strengths and weaknesses for:
The Chancellor's role
Article 48
The crisies of the Weimar Republic
The crisies of the Weimar Republic
The video to the right will go over everything you need to know. More detail is below.
crisis 1: Stab in the bAck myth
crisis 1: Stab in the bAck myth
WWI propaganda spread the belief that the German Army was unbeatable.
Many Germans were led to believe that the German Army never lost the war.
Rather, they were "stabbed in the back" by democratic politicians, socialists, Jews and pacifists (November Criminals).
Generals Ludendorff and Hindenburg encouraged this belief. They didn't want to take the blame for the Treaty of Versailles.
This created a lot of resentment about the Treaty of Versailles and was utilised by the other political parties attempting to weaken the new republic.
The Social Democrats are the controlling party of the Weimar Republic. They are supported by the ZP and the KPD. All three parties believe in the idea of democracy. The important thing to remember is that they CAN NOT rule without the support of the two other parties as they never had a majority.
Crisis 2: Spartacist Uprising
Crisis 2: Spartacist Uprising
The KPD (Communist Party) openly called for social revolution
They didn't trust the Social Democrats to look after the interests of the working class.
The KPD is strongly supported by The Spartacus League, who wish to start the next stage of the communist revolution.
The Social Democrats are not as "left-wing", even though they often pretended to be; they wanted to keep the support of the rich elite class (landowners and industrialists). They believed that they would be key to rebuilding Germany as an economic success.
President Ebert was concerned about the radical nature of The Spartacus League, and how to maintain order inside of Germany. He decided to use the army and ex-soldiers (Friekorps) to help keep control.
Some Sparticist members staged an attempted revolution in January 1919, while they didn't have the full support of other left-wing revolutionaries or Spartacist leaders.
Over the next 4 months, left-wing uprisings were crushed across multiple cities, however, the Social Democrats now relied heavily on the army and ex-soldiers to maintain control, both of whom firmly believed in the Stab in the back Myth.
Crisis 3: Freikorps
Crisis 3: Freikorps
The Freikorps were a volunteer corp that helps to maintain control inside of Germany in the early years of the Weimar Republic.
WWI veterans that were unable to reintegrate into society due to the violence of war. PTSD wasn't recognised at the time, so support was non-existent.
The veterans found comfort and a sense of belonging in the Freikorps.
They maintained the same military lifestyle and structure in WWI.
A large number of ex-soldiers that joined despised the Republic and strongly believed in the Stab in the back myth.
Patriotic German youth also joined in the hopes of proving themselves as men.
They idealised militarised masculinity; aggression, physical domination, absence of emotion.
Usually characterised as extreme right wing.
Many men of the Freikorp viewed themselves as still engaged in active warfare against the enemies of the German Empire.
Many joined the Nazi Party's SA (Sturmabteilung), which was used as the muscle behind the ideology.
The Freikorp actually used the Swastika before the Nazi Party.
Crisis 4: Occupation of The ruhr
Crisis 4: Occupation of The ruhr
The Treaty of Versailles required Germany to pay enormous reparations which, after WWI, Germany didn't have the economic strength to do so.
They made their first payment in 1921, thanks to a loan from Britain. They defaulted on their repayments in 1922 to France.
France saw this as an act of bad faith, and they wished to make Germany pay, by any means necessary.
French and Belgian troops invaded the Ruhr (Germany's most important industrialised area) and seized the raw materials for themselves.
The Germans in the Ruhr responded with passive resistance, refusing to have anything to do with the French or work.
This policy only caused Germany to become poorer as they lost everything that the Ruhr would normally produce.
This was eventually addressed, however, the damage had been done.
Leo Schlageter was killed by the French and then made into a matyr by the Nazi Party
Two women were carrying a laundry basket filled to the brim with banknotes. Seeing a crowd standing around a shop window, they put down their basket for a moment to see if there was anything they could buy. When they turned round a few moments later; they found the money there untouched. But the basket was gone.
Memories of a German Writer.
Crisis 5: hyperinflation
Crisis 5: hyperinflation
The government already had an enormous debt from WWI and was under incredible stress from the reparations as well.
When the French occupied the Ruhr, the Weimar Republic didn't have the money to pay for the costs of the reparations and the Ruhr.
The solution was to simply print more money. However, when a government prints money which it doesn't have, the value of money goes down and prices go up. This was happening since the Kaiser's war government and is referred to as inflation.
Hyperinflation happens when the value of money rapidly decreases, while goods and services rapidly increase in value. This was disastrous in post-WWI Germany.
The Mark became totally worthless as prices reached astronomical levels. By November 1923, one American dollar was quoted at 4,420,000,000 marks.
Germany was essentially bankrupt.
While inflation started with the Kaiser and was only continued by the Weimar Republic, the German people blamed the Weimar Republic and the Treaty of Versailles, instead of the Kaiser.
It was the greatest good fortune for us Nazis that the Putsch collapsed because:
Co-operation with General Ludendorff would have been ... impossible
...sudden takeover of power...would have led to the greatest of difficulties ... essential preparations had not even ... begun
The events... have proven the most effective propaganda for National Socialism
Hitler's assessment of the putsch in 1933.
Crisis 6: munich putsch
Crisis 6: munich putsch
The Chancellor, Stresemann, decided that Germany would have to give in to the French occupation of the Ruhr.
This meant ending the policy of passive resistance, which should be a good thing, as the policy was only contributing to hyperinflation.
However, this was seen as a betrayal by right wing extremists, who not only hated the Republic but also believed in the Stab in the Back myth. This decision only gave the myth credibility in their eyes.
Encouraged by the support of the people, the Nazi Party, under the leadership of Adolf Hitler, launched an attempted revolution in Munich, the capital city of Bavaria.
This was a tremendous failure for the Nazi Party, their Putsch was a fiasco and it was easily crushed. It showed just how powerless they really were.
It did, however, allow Hitler to become famous, and this greatly increased the favour and support of the Nazis over the course of the Weimar Republic.
Hitler was later jailed and wrote his famous "Mein Kampf" (My Struggle).
Page updated
Report abuse